G'day Roger & All,
Hi been a while, but i have a question in regards my 2005 Go 155. This is great board which has done plenty of work now. I should be on a Futura or similar but money talks.
Anyway here is the issue, this summer in South Australia has been particularly hot. Today is well over 40c Approx 104F. The Go is in the shed drying out with plug removed from the last days out and when i walked into shed I can hear it hissing and bubbling as the hot air comes out. Today I turned it over to try and cover it in a cool spot to notice water leaking (only a few drops) from the plug and the 2 center footstrap screw holes. Should I be concerned, have i sprung a leak? I have never forgotten the plug and have no major damage.
Thanks
Brenton

Roger

10th January 2008, 11:54 AM

Hi Brenton,
Your board is "hissing" with the vent plug opened or out of the board...?
If so, yes you should be concerned as there's water inside the core of the board somewhere that is building up pressure and pushing it's way out through some other restricted orfice (that's what makes the hissing sound).
Turning the board over (deck side down) in the shade, is probably not the best way to get the water out of the board.
The best method I've found is to use the change in temperature to do most of the work for you.
In the morning, before things warm up, place your board deck side up in the sun with the vent plug completely removed.
Make a small "wick" from some paper toweling rolled/twisted so the end will fit down into the vent plug fitting. Try to get the wick all the way down to the foam you can see at the bottom of the vent plug hole.
Let your board heat in the sun all day.
Check the little "wick" and see if it's fully wet. If so, change it for another and let that
wick pull more water out from the core.
With the vent plug out of the board, "cooking" in the sun won't hurt anything as no internal pressure can build up with the vent plug removed.
At the end of the day, just as things start to cool off for the evening, you might want to take a little thinned epoxy resin (or some other type of thin viscosity sealer) an put a drop or 2 down each of the footstrap screw holes that you suspect might be leaking and close the vent plug tight.
As your board cools, with the evening temperature change, it will draw the epoxy/sealer down into the bottom of the FS screw hole and should seal any leaks from this source.
You can test the overall watertight/airtight integrity of the core of your board using the same methodology.
Get a new O'ring for your vent plug, and tighten the vent plug just enough to seal the O'ring. Do this in the morning before the temperature really warms up.
Place the board out in the sun, deck side up for about half an hour.
Slowly open the vent plug. If you hear the "hiss" your board is probably not taking on alot of water as it's normal for the pressure to build.
If you don't hear the hiss, close the vent plug again and take some soapy water and dribble it into the footstrap screw holes (one at a time). If you see bubbles, then that FS screw hole is leaking.
Also check around the fin box, and completely check the area around any repairs that have been made.
Any sort of leak will make the soapy water bubble and then you can take appropriate measures to seal up any leaks.
Remember, if you set your board out on the beach in really hot direct sunlight, it will really heat up and pressure will build inside. It's a good idea to crack the vent plug open and listen for the hiss of air escaping just to check.
Also, remember if you set a really hot board in the cool water, the core temp will drop quickly, and this can develop quite a vacuum inside the skin of the board.
If there are any leaks (even pinholes) the vacuum will pull water into the core of the board.
If you think about expansion and contraction of the air in your board, you can use "expansion/contraction" to dry the board out. It may take some time with a few "cycles" to get your board dry and sealed, but you don't need fancy spinners or
vacuum pumps.
However, if you have access to a vacuum pump, you can dry your board more quickly as the water will boil at a much lower temp. under a vacuum.
Be careful not to draw a full vacuum though as too much vacuum can collapse the board internally.
Also, make all your repairs in the evening, as things are cooling down. Cooling temps cause the inside of your board to develop a partial vacuum so it draws the repair/sealing material into the board rather than trying to push little air bubbles out through your repair/sealing material if you try to fix the board as the air inside is expanding.
Hope this helps,

BJ2701

14th January 2008, 04:33 PM

Thanks Roger,
seems to take on a little water i think through the foot strap holes. I will try the ideas you have given me and see how it goes. You have given me lots of option which are all appreciated. Hot weather coming again in a few days so will get on to it.
Thanks again
B

Roger

15th January 2008, 04:38 AM

Hi Brenton,
Have you ever used the optional side fins on your GO board?
If you have, perhaps you used regular length footstrap screws to mount the
sde fins.
If so, then you may have "punched out" the back/bottom of the side fin mounting
screw inserts.
The side fins mount with 25 mm long screws where the std. footstrap screws are 28 mm long.
Something else to check.
Use the cooling of the evening to "pull" your sealing compound down into all those footstrap and side fin insert holes, even the ones that have never had a screw in them.
If you put a little dab of the sealer in the screw hole and nothing happens, you will know that that particular screw hole isn't a problem.
The hole (s) that draw the sealing compound in will be the ones that really need to be sealed.
Hope this helps,

BJ2701

15th January 2008, 03:22 PM

Thanks again,
I have never used the side fins but will make sure i do the all the screw holes when i add some of the resin.
Hope to get to it soon.
B